Silk

by Heidi McLaughlin

“Two.”

  “Two?”

  I nodded.

  He smiled and clasped my hand, walking me further and further down the bridge, towards a group of black benches that were spread out across the lanes.

  “So, is the third guy the charm, Claire?”

  “No, that’s not what I….I meant two including you.”

  “What?” He stopped walking. “Your ex-husband was your first?”

  “Yeah, we were high school sweethearts…Before him I messed around with a few guys here or there, but we never had traditional sex—just kisses and dry humping and…” I sighed. “Are you in desperate need of an ego boost right now? Are you going to ask me which one of you is better?”

  “I don’t ask questions I already know the answer to. What is traditional sex?”

  “Are you twelve or twenty eight?”

  “Twenty-nine in the summer.”

  “It’s just sex. You know, what you and I have been doing for a while.”

  “Does ‘traditional sex’ include oral?” He joked.

  I stilled. I looked out over the ocean and focused on a small tugboat that was making its way towards us. I needed to figure out a way to change the subject.

  “Claire?” He cupped my chin. “Did you say yes?”

  “That’s too personal…”

  “No it’s not. Tell me.”

  I sighed. “Of course I gave him—”

  “I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about you.”

  “No…But that doesn’t mean—”

  “Ever?” His eyes widened.

  “My ex was very straightforward. He always said that wasn’t his thing. I was a virgin when we got together so it never really bothered me. You can’t miss what you’ve never experienced, you know? What we had was good.”

  He stared at me a long time, slowly blinking, shaking his head in disbelief. “Okay…Let me ask you another question. Did you two ever have sex outside of your bedroom?”

  “He never fucked me in a room full of people if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Did he talk dirty to you?” he whispered in my ear.

  “Jonathan!”

  “Did he?”

  “These questions are completely—”

  “Necessary. I’ll take that as a no…” He trailed his fingers down my backside. “Did he ever explore you here?”

  “No…And that’s not something I ever wanted him to do.”

  “Why not?” He gently squeezed my ass.

  “Because that’s...It’s—”

  “Immoral?” He laughed and pulled me down onto a bench. “We’ll discuss it one day.”

  “How many women have you been with, Jonathan? Fifty?”

  “Fifty?” He smirked. “Including you?”

  Oh my god, there’s MORE? “Is that number too low?”

  “Too high.”

  “Forty nine?”

  He laughed. “Seventeen.”

  “Wow…”

  “Why do you look so shocked?”

  “It’s…It’s less than what I expected, but that’s still a lot of women…Were you in relationships with any of them?”

  “A few. One was a friend with benefits who I saw whenever I wasn’t in a relationship.”

  “And before you had sex with me, when was the last time you’d had sex?”

  “Six months before you.”

  “Well, that’s actually quite shocking. Were there no other women at corporate who wanted to be dragged into secret rooms or bent over your desk afterhours?”

  He shrugged. “No reason, really. I was too busy and I have to be extremely careful when it comes to women.”

  “Because you have attachment issues?”

  “Would you like to be fucked on the Golden Gate Bridge tonight?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t have attachment issues…I have to be careful because some women are only into me for my money, or are more interested in going to the press and blackmailing me than dating me.”

  “Has that ever happened?”

  “Not unless you’re going to attempt it. Should I be worried?”

  “No…” I leaned back. “So, where do you honestly think you and I are—”

  “I told you to stop thinking about that.” He moved me so my back was flat against his lap.

  “I just want to know if—”

  He bent down and kissed me. “It doesn’t matter right now,” he whispered. “I’m not dating anyone else and neither are you. Let’s just see where it goes…”

  I lay like that for a long time, gazing into his eyes as he gazed back into mine. I wanted to ask him more questions, questions about all those women he’d slept with, but after he kissed me for the umpteenth time, I forgot what I was going to say.

  Over the sound of the sloshing waters, I heard the roaring of a car in the distance and realized the limo was driving back towards us.

  “Mr. Statham, the bridge will re-open in ten minutes sir.” His driver pulled in front of us and rolled down the window.

  “Thank you, Greg.” Jonathan eased me out of his lap and helped me back inside the car.

  I thought we were going to continue our epic-long-silence-saga and ride back to my place without talking, but he pulled me into his arms as soon as the car pulled off.

  He crushed his lips onto mine and kissed me passionately, making me wish he would take things further and undress me. But he didn’t. He used every single second of the ride to explore my mouth with his tongue and possess my lips with his.

  When the car stopped outside of my house, he slowly moved away from me and sighed. He walked me up to my door and slipped his arms around my waist. “Did you have a good time tonight?”

  “Yes. Thank you very much…Are you sure—”

  “No one saw anything. You and I are a secret—just like you wanted.” He gave me another open mouthed kiss that made me lose my balance and fall right into him. He held me tighter, rubbing his hands up and down my back, kissing me so intensely I lost all my thoughts.

  I didn’t want our kiss to end. I didn’t want our night to end, but I wasn’t sure if Ashley and Caroline were in the living room; I hadn’t told them anything about him yet.

  Before I could consider the idea any further, Jonathan gave me one last passionate kiss and stepped back. “Goodnight, Claire.”

  Chapter 13

  Jonathan

  “Any word on where Harrison stands on the Uni-tech investment?” “Are we sure we want to buy Livingston Corp. before we go public? Their sales were dismal last quarter.” “We need to finalize our predictions for the market at least three weeks before the IPO launch.” “The sPhone blue has officially broken our last record for preorder sales.”

  I was sitting in another late night board meeting and I was tempted to say, “I honestly don’t give a damn about what any of you are talking about. Let’s just get the hell out of here.” Yet, some of the shareholders were tuning in from overseas and I knew that wasn’t the smartest idea.

  We’d been fine tuning the details for the IPO that was still a long while away: Renegotiating stock options, finalizing the requirements for employee buy-ins, and preparing hundreds of public statements and in-house events.

  I’d been so busy that I hadn’t seen or spoken to Claire all week. I didn’t have time to attened any of her directors’ meetings or talk to her on the phone at night. My meetings always ended around three in the morning, and since her department was so busy with the sTablet, we only texted each other a few times a day.

  I didn’t think not seeing her for a week would bother me, but it did. Anytime the meetings became boring—which was every fifteen minutes, I pictured her bent over my desk, pushed up against the walls of my office, or screaming my name as I pushed her into another climax.

  Where else in this building should we have sex?

  “Mr. Statham? Mr. Statham?” One of the board members cleared his throat.

  Maybe on the roof…”Yes?”

  “Is it okay if we end tonight
’s meeting a little early?”

  I looked at my watch. Two thirty in the morning.

  “That’s fine with me.” I tried not to look relieved. “See you all on Monday.”

  They stood up at once and shuffled out of the room. There were no “See you later” or “Great job team” goodbyes. The friendly salutations had worn off much earlier in the week, as soon as the first meeting went past midnight.

  I closed my folder and realized Vanessa was standing by the door.

  “Hey, Vanessa. It hasn’t been the same at the negotiating sessions without you. How was France?”

  “It was phenomenal.” She bit her lip. “Did you miss me?”

  “In what sense?”

  “Funny. Are you sleeping in your office suite tonight?”

  “Probably so.” I started stacking my files. “Why?”

  “Can I stay the night?”

  I looked up and raised my eyebrow. “What?”

  “I’m too tired to drive home…”

  “I can get Greg to take you in the town car.” I pulled out my phone. “Do you want me to have your car taken to your house too or do you—”

  “Jonathan, no one is around right now. Everyone has gone home. There’s no need for you to act like we’re platonic.”

  “We are platonic. You don’t want a ride home?”

  “No, I don’t want a ride home. I—” She stopped and shook her head. “You changed the employee fraternization policy while I was gone, and I’m finally back so…I took that to mean that you finally decided to give us a chance.”

  “Vanessa, I’ve never—”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to rush things between us.” She walked over and touched my shoulder. “I wasn’t implying that we sleep together tonight—unless you want to of course…I was thinking we could just talk, you know? We’ve been friends for so long but we don’t really know each other outside of the boardroom.”

  I sighed. “I’m dating someone else.”

  “Someone else? Since when?”

  “Since—” It wasn’t any of her damn business. “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “So it’s not serious, right?” She shrugged. “You’ve always kept your options open. I’ll go grab my bag out of my car and we can—”

  “I’m dating her and only her, Vanessa. I’ve told you over and over that you and I are just friends. I want to keep it that way.” Forever…

  “This doesn’t make any sense.” She crossed her arms. “You’re honestly not attracted to me?”

  “I am.”

  “You don’t enjoy hanging out with me? You don’t think we have great conversations? “

  “I do.”

  “But you don’t want to date me?”

  “No.” Can it get any clearer?

  “Okay…” She took a deep breath and stepped back. “I take it that the woman you’re dating is an employee here?”

  I didn’t answer. I just raised my eyebrow.

  “Does she have a name?”

  “She does.”

  “What is it? Friends can tell each other who they’re dating.”

  “Can they?” I stood up. “I never meant to lead you on. If I did that in any way I’m sorry. I think you’re extremely pretty, smart, and—”

  “Spare me your pity shit, Jonathan.” She scoffed and headed for the door. “Don’t come crying to me when your low-level employee runs to the press and tries to blackmail you. I might help her.”

  “See you on Monday, Vanessa. I liked the skirt you wore today.”

  “Fuck you.” She rolled her eyes and left.

  I waited ten minutes before walking out of the conference room. I didn’t want to run into her or anyone else on my way upstairs.

  I swiped my key at my private elevator and sighed. I thought about calling Claire, but I figured she was already asleep.

  I walked into my bedroom and lay across the bed.

  Nothing was on TV except those renovation shows that Claire liked to watch. The one I was currently watching featured two men who were tearing down a dilapidated porch and turning it into a wrap-around veranda.

  How can she watch this without falling asleep?

  I changed the channel to an infomercial—a ‘Magic Soap Bar’ that could clean “any and everything!”—and slid under the covers. I pulled out my laptop and started going over the week’s meeting notes, reading all the things I hadn’t bothered listening to earlier.

  I heard my phone ringing and assumed it was one of the board members emailing the meeting notes from tonight, but it kept ringing.

  I flipped it over and looked at the screen. Claire?

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Hey...”

  “Are you okay?” I sat up. “Is something wrong?”

  “No, I was just…calling to talk to you.”

  “At three in the morning?”

  “Is there a time frame on when I’m allowed to call you? Could you forward me the schedule so I can better understand the ‘do’s and don’ts’?”

  “I’ll have my secretary email it to you in the morning. How are you?”

  “I’m okay…”

  I placed my reading glasses on the side table. “Why do you sound like that?”

  “Sound like what?”

  “Like you’re almost out of breath, like you’re whispering. Are you sure you’re alright?”

  “Yes. I’m quite fine. I was calling you to talk about work.”

  “Work?”

  “Are you going deaf?”

  “What about work, Claire?”

  “Well…I was thinking that…That…That there were a lot of—”

  “You called me because you’re horny?”

  “What?” She sucked in her breath. “No, I’m not horny. I’m—”

  “Yes you are.”

  “Jonathan, I was calling because—”

  “Admit it.” I smiled.

  “That’s not why I…That’s not why I called you.”

  “Go get your laptop.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m going to help you with your problem.”

  She was silent. I could only hear her soft breaths over the line.

  “Claire?”

  “Yes?”

  “Go. Get. Your. Laptop.”

  “Um…Hold on a second…” She came back on the line seconds later. “I have it.”

  “Good. Log into your email.” I stepped out of bed and walked into my office suite’s living room. I poured myself a glass of scotch and sat in a chair.

  “I’m logged in now,” she murmured.

  I logged into my own account and opened up the web-chat app. I typed in her name and hit “Connect.”

  Within seconds, her beautiful face appeared on my screen. She was sitting in front of a stack of red pillows and I could see her gold colored duvet.

  She moved the laptop back a bit, allowing me to get a better picture of her. She was wearing a thin white T-shirt and her hair was in large pink rollers.

  She’s so fucking sexy…

  “You can hang up the phone now,” I said, still smiling.

  She rolled her eyes and set her phone down.

  “So, since you’re not horny, what exactly did you call to talk to me about?”

  “The sTablet.” She blinked twice, giving me further indication that she was lying.

  “The sTablet? What about it?”

  “Well…” She paused. “We’ve narrowed down the potential slogans to four, and the campaign directives are going to be finalized by the end of—”

  “Take off your shirt.”

  “What?”

  “Take it off.”

  She hesitated for a few seconds, and I thought I was going to have to repeat myself, but she slowly pulled the shirt over her head, revealing a lacy red bra.

  I should’ve had Greg pick her up…

  “Like I was saying…” She was clearly trying to make this more difficult than it needed to be. “By the end of next week—” />
  “Were you touching yourself before you called me?”

  She turned bright red.

  “What were you thinking about?” I tilted my screen. “And don’t you dare lie to me.”

  “I was thinking about…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Yes?”

  “You…”

  “Me fucking you? Be specific.”

  Her cheeks turned scarlet. “Jonathan—”

  “Take off your bra—and your panties if you’re actually wearing any today…”

  She looked shocked, but she unsnapped the button on the front of her bra and pulled the straps down over her shoulders, revealing her voluptuous breasts and strawberry colored nipples.

  She didn’t make another move and I smiled; I loved the fact that she went bare so often.

  “Are you going to tell me what you were thinking about, Claire? Or are you going to make me guess?”

  Her breath hitched and she looked off to the side for a few seconds. “I was…I—”

  “Touch your tits…”

  She slowly reached up and palmed her breasts, slightly squeezing them.

  “No, not like that,” I shook my head. “Touch them like I do when I’m fucking you from behind.”

  “Jon—”

  “Do it.”

  She gasped and sat frozen.

  “Claire…” I narrowed my eyes at her.

  She blinked a few times, but then she roughly grabbed her breasts and pinched her hardened nipples—twisting them harshly, pulling them out as far as they could go.

  “You’re not going to tell me what you were thinking about? What you want me to do to you? How you like to be fucked?”

  “No…” Her breaths were becoming choppy and the expression on her face made me wish she was here with me in person, made me wish she could take care of my swelling erection.

  “Are you wet?” I saw one of her hands moving away from her breasts, down the screen, down to the part I couldn’t see.

  She didn’t answer. She just bit her lip and looked into my eyes with a sense of longing, desire.

  “Since you’re not going to tell me what you want me to do to you…” I adjusted my screen. “I want to fuck your mouth.”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “I’ve wanted to feel your lips wrapped around my dick since the first day we met.”

  “Oh god…” She shut her eyes.

  “Open your eyes back up…Look at me. Look. At. Me.”